N-Able Support Services

Updated 19 June 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. It provides a service to adults who have a range of disabilities or support needs.

Notice of inspection:

We intended to give the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection but were unable to contact the provider on several occasions. Therefore, the provider had a number of weeks’ notice of their inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 18 April 2019 and ended on 24 May 2019. We visited the office location on 18 April 2019, we were unable to gain access on that date. We arranged to visit the office on 24 May 2019 to see the provider and review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

During the inspection we met with the provider and the person who used the service. We also spoke on the telephone with three members of staff.

We looked at records including those related to recruitment and training of staff, audits, medication and care plans.

Updated 19 June 2019

About the service: N Able Support Services is a service providing care and support to people in their own home. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support to one person.

People’s experience of using this service:

We could not make contact with the service on several occasions when we rang and left messages. This means that we could not always effectively monitor the service. People supported by the service were always able to contact the provider and staff. The provider has informed us that they intend to update their contact details.

Records were all in place and up to date. At times these were brief and did not reflect the service being provided. We discussed with the provider the benefits of keeping more comprehensive records.

People were protected from abuse and harm. Staff had a good knowledge of how to support people safely and well and how to implement this on a person centred basis.

Sufficient experienced staff were always available to support people. New staff were well supported by senior staff and safe recruitment practices were followed. Staff received the training they needed to support people safely and well.

People received the support they needed, in a way they preferred with their personal care, health care, medication and social lives.

Staff supported people to make choices in their daily lives and respected the fact that they were working in someone’s home. Staff had built good relationships with people supported and knew them very well.

Clear information was given to people about how to raise a concern or complaint and robust processes were in place to investigate any concerns raised.

Senior staff had a good knowledge of the service provided and spent a lot of time quality assuring the service and supporting staff to carry out their role well.

Rating at last inspection: Good (14 December 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk